Play with Your Foodhttp://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood
Kitchen AdventuresMon, 16 May 2016 04:10:56 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.13Pumpkin Soup with Chillies in Adobo Saucehttp://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/05/16/pumpkin-soup-with-chillies-in-adobo-sauce/
http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/05/16/pumpkin-soup-with-chillies-in-adobo-sauce/#respondMon, 16 May 2016 04:10:56 +0000http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/?p=42Continue reading "Pumpkin Soup with Chillies in Adobo Sauce"]]>Squash as a soup base makes the perfect blank canvas upon which to paint the spices of your favorite cuisines. I decided to daub my paintbrush in Mexican spices today. I have some cooked pumpkin in the freezer from the large pumpkin I cooked last Autumn that I used for the recipe, but you could use canned pumpkin in a pinch.The results were great with the exception of one garnish ingredient that I’ll talk about at the end. So, before you try this, read the caveat!
Pumpkin Soup with Chillies in Adobo Sauce

In a stock pot on medium heat, saute the onions for 3-4 minutes until soft. Add the minced garlic, cumin, cinnamon oregano and chillies in adobo sauce. Continue to saute for another 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrots, and celery and continue to saute for another 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth, pumpkin, chilli powder, and sea salt. Bring to a boil and then simmer until vegetables are soft, 20 minutes or longer if needed.

Use a wand blender to puree the soup. You can do this in the stock pot. If you use a regular blender, you’ll need to do at least 2 batches. Put the puree batches in a bowl until all the soup is pureed. Add all the soup back to the stock pot, adjust your seasoning, and simmer on low for another 5 or 10 minutes to let the flavours combine.

Serve in soup bowls and garnish with the cream Fraiche, fresh cilantro and pumpkin seeds*

* I didn’t think the pumpkin seeds turned out very well in this dish, but I toasted them in a frying pan. Next time I’ll either toast them in the oven or try toasted almonds.

]]>http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/05/16/pumpkin-soup-with-chillies-in-adobo-sauce/feed/0Rajasthani Lambhttp://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/04/28/rajasthani-lamb/
http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/04/28/rajasthani-lamb/#commentsThu, 28 Apr 2016 03:38:32 +0000http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/?p=31Continue reading "Rajasthani Lamb"]]>When Mind GoesBlank and I started exchanging recipes, Rajasthani Lamb was one of the earliest of his recipes that I tried. I first made this dish in 2010, and have made it about twice a year since then. I usually make it with cubed leg of lamb. I decided to try it with cubed lamb shoulder this time.

Rajasthani Lamb (serves 4)

Ingredients
5 Tbsp of ghee or vegetable oil, divided (I used vegetable oil)
1 Tsp of cloves
25 dried red chillies, stalks removed, broken into 2-3 pieces each and soaked in warm water for 30 mins. (I used Byadagi Chillies from South India. They are called “wrinkled chillies” in my local Indian grocery store. I’ve made the dish with birds eye chillies, too.)
2 bay leaves
6 green cardamom pods
4 black cardamom pods
6 1/2 Tbsps minced garlic and ginger. (Mind GoesBlank’s original recipe calls for 6 1/2 tbsps finely chopped garlic, but I decided to make a ginger garlic paste this time)
2 large onions, finely chopped or sliced thin.
750 g lamb diced (1 1/2 inch cubes)
600 ml of water or lamb stock (I used 300 ml of lamb stock because I prefer a thicker sauce in the end product)
30 g fresh cilantro (also known as coriander leaf), chopped
juice of 1 lemon (I used juice of 1/2 lemon because it was a very juicy lemon!)

Mix the yogurt with cumin seeds, ground coriander seed, chili powder and salt, then set aside.

Crack the cardamom pods a little with a rap from the flat of your knife. Heat 3 Tbsps of ghee or oil in a large heavy-based pan. Add the cloves, setting 4-6 aside for later, then add 3-4 soaked chilies, saving the rest for later. Add the bay leaves and the green and black cardamom. When they begin to crackle and change color, add the minced garlic and ginger and saute until they start to turn golden. Add the onions, stirring constantly, until light brown.

Add the meat and cook, stirring over a high heat for 3-5 minutes.

Again, save 3-4 red chilies for later and add the rest to the pan. Cook for 10-12 minutes, until the liquid has evaporated and the meat starts to brown. Add the yogurt mixture and cook over a medium heat for 15-18 minutes, until the yogurt has dried up. Pour in the water or lamb stock, then cover the pan and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes or until the meat is tender. 30 minutes is about right for leg of lamb. For the cubed lamb shoulder, it took closer to 60 minutes.

Check the seasoning, remove from the heat and keep warm.

To finish, heat the remaining ghee or oil in a small pan, add the remaining cloves and red chilies and, as they change colour and release their flavors into the fat, pour the mixture over the lamb. Finish with chopped coriander and lemon juice.

I served the lamb with onion kulcha flatbread, mint chutney, brown basmati rice with saffron, and mixed fruit. The sweetness of the fruit was a delightful contrast to the spiciness of the lamb dish.

The bones from the lamb shoulder will make a great broth for the next adventure with lamb!

]]>http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/04/28/rajasthani-lamb/feed/1Carnitas in a Slow Cookerhttp://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/04/20/carnitas-in-a-slow-cooker/
http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/04/20/carnitas-in-a-slow-cooker/#commentsWed, 20 Apr 2016 02:45:53 +0000http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/?p=16Continue reading "Carnitas in a Slow Cooker"]]>One could argue that since I live in a region where incredible taquerias abound, I have no reason to cook carnitas, myself. But, one would be wrong! It’s a great dish for get-togethers, and it freezes well. There are an almost infinite number of recipes for carnitas on the internet and in cookbooks. Some call for cooking the pork shoulder in lard, some in milk, some in beer, and some in orange juice. I’ve found that all the recipes I’ve tried and studied have a few lacks when it comes to pleasing my palate, so I’ve developed a recipe based on my personal tastes and experience.

My recipe takes advantages of aromatics, particularly citrus zest. And in contrast to most recipes, I cube the pork so that I can coat more surface area with spices and so that the citrus juices can soak into the meat more deeply. This recipe calls for pork shoulder roast, but you can substitute an equal weight of country ribs.

I like to make my own chili powders from dried chilis. An equal amount of prepared chili powders can be substituted.

Grind the cumin seed, peppercorns, and dried chilies in a spice grinder until they are a medium-fine powder. In a small bowl, mix all the rub ingredients well with a fork.

Cut the pork shoulder into 2-inch cubes. If the roast is bone-in, cut around the bones, leaving an inch or so of meat attached. Apply the rub evenly to the cubed pork and add the meat to the slow cooker. I like to reserve the pieces with the fat cap and put them on top, fat side up. Add the onion and garlic. No need to mix them in with the meat. They can stay on top. Grate the skin of the oranges and lime and add the zest to the pot. Juice the oranges and lime with a reamer and add the juice to the pot.

Depending on the heat tolerance of your audience, either mince the Jalapeno chili, or leave it whole except for the stem end and cut 6 or 8 slits in the sides before adding it to the pot. Think of the whole chili as a teabag. The juices will circulate through the pod, imparting flavor without an overwhelming amount of heat for the faint of heart.

Cook for 5 to 6 hours on high or 9-10 hours on low. When the meat falls apart, it’s done.

Remove the meat and onion mixture from the pot and drain, reserving all the juices. Pull the meat apart with forks or your hands. Skim the fat off the reserved juices.

Heat a large heavy-bottomed skillet to medium-high and add a teaspoon or two of olive oil. Add the meat and cook without stirring until the bottom forms a nice crust. Turn the heat down to low. Add about half the juices to the pan and let the mixture warm through.

For freezing, pour the rest of the juice over the meat and separate into meal-sized portions.

]]>http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/04/20/carnitas-in-a-slow-cooker/feed/1Like it or lump it.http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/02/24/like-it-or-lump-it/
http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/02/24/like-it-or-lump-it/#respondWed, 24 Feb 2016 02:04:42 +0000http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/?p=12Continue reading "Like it or lump it."]]>Lumps – the shame and bane of more cooks than I’ve had hot dinners. I’ve checked my library, and apparently the way to avoid them is to sieve the flour.

Before you add it.

Or after.

Or make a roux, then add cold milk.

Or hot milk. Or add the roux to the milk, which should be hot. Or cold. Only do this on a Thursday. I’m yet to perfect the incantations, but I’m hoping one Thursday I’ll get it right!

Let’s play with our food and waste some flour and water and butter and test some variants.

When a roux is added gradually to milk or milk to roux, lumps do not appear. When a roux is added all at once, especially to boiling milk, lumps are far more likely.

So we have a method, but not an explanation.

Flour is mainly starch polymers of amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is soluble in hot water but amylopectin is not. When flour is put into hot water, it loses amylose, and water fills the space between the amylopectin molecules, causing the granules to swell, and forming a gelatinous starch paste. Flour deposited quickly in hot water is enveloped by a gelatinised layer that limits the diffusion of water toward the dry central core of the lump.

Placing a one centimeter ball of flour in hot water causes it to become moistened to a depth of one or two milimeters, with the centre remaining dry.

So how can I prevent lumps? No voodoo or incantations are required. I just need to break the lumps (with a whisk) into particles smaller than the thickness of the starchy layer. Instead of sifting the flour before you add it and the batter afterwards, try sifting the flour into the liquid while you whisk it.

]]>http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/02/24/like-it-or-lump-it/feed/060 / 60 perfect pastahttp://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/02/24/60-60-perfect-pasta/
http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/2016/02/24/60-60-perfect-pasta/#commentsWed, 24 Feb 2016 00:22:50 +0000http://mcfrye.com/playwithyourfood/?p=5Continue reading "60 / 60 perfect pasta"]]>Pasta is a delivery mechanism for children as far as I can tell. It is the universal canvas upon which nearly any flavour can be introduced. So why do so many adults sneer at it? The benefits of fresh handmade pasta over dried shop bought are real, but with a little science and the right tools we can narrow that gap to nearly nothing.

Dried pasta is an inexpensive, portable and versatile food. It has relatives all over the world. Rice flour pastas, mung bean flour pastas, couscous, they all follow the same story. What I’m interested in for this post is the stuff you can get in any supermarket or corner shop here. Dried durum flour pasta. “Italian” pasta.

The shape of pasta seems almost infinite, but it’s not. I’ll come to choice of pasta shapes in another post.

Durum is the hardest variety of wheat (i.e. highest protein content). Pasta dough made with durum wheat flour is very stiff, which gives our dried pasta its unique resilient texture when cooked.

Durum wheat kernels are ground through steel rollers, separating out the bran and the germ then cracking the starchy endosperm into pieces. Semolina comes from here too.

Producers take great care when they dry their pasta. Dried pasta dough has an optimum moisture level of 12 per cent. If it’s dried too quickly or more than that, it breaks too easily, but too slowly or less and bacteria start partying.

Once you get your dried pasta home, all you have to do is cook it in a big vat of boiling salted water for ten minutes, right? Regardless of shape, size or intention of pasta, those seem to be the instructions.

Uh, not exactly.

Let’s consider what happens in that pan when we cook pasta.

The starch in the flour has to hydrate in the water then gelatinise in the heat. If you put cold dry spaghetti into hot water the surface starch hydrates and becomes sticky, so if you don’t stir it will stick together. There is a pernicious myth that adding oil to the water will help this. It won’t. Oil and water don’t mix, the oil will just float on the surface. It will reduce the surface tension of the boiling water / starch mix reducing that annoying boilover problem, though.

Ok, so if we have a really huge pot of boiling water, that’ll reduce stickiness, right?

Nope.

Theoretically, you will need to stir it less because the large volume of moving, boiling water will do the work for you. Theoretically.

In practice, Harold McGee published an article in the New York Times in 2009 showing you could cook dried pasta perfectly in a bare minimum of water. What’s cool about this is if you use a minimum of water, you can even use the water in funky ways…. but that’s for another post.

So what is going on here?

We’re going to look at what professional kitchens do with dried pasta, and then what we can do at home. In my opinion, this is one of the cases where we can win this game.

Most large restaurants parcook their pasta before service. They take it to very al dente then shock it in ice water, and coat it in a neutral flavour oil. This way they can cook it really really quickly in the pressure of a service.

This doesn’t sound like a method to transfer to the home to me. The pasta is easily overcooked. If there isn’t enough oil the pasta will give up starch and glue itself together as it cools. Either that or, worse, it will continue to absorb moisture as it cools making it flabby and, well, nasty.

Finally, if there’s too much oil, the pasta itself is now adding oil to the sauce I want to cook it in.

There must be an answer, and with a little science, and the right tools, there is.

The answer is a cold water soak. This completely separates the hydration process from the cooking process. The time spent soaking depends on the thickness of the pasta. Linguine takes 90 minutes ish. Fettucini two hours. Rigatoni 4 hours. Spaghetti one hour. It’s a beautiful and amazing process, as you have very fine control over how you like your pasta done.

If fully hydrated, the pasta starts cooking the moment it comes into contact with boiling water, and it takes just 60 seconds.

Let’s go nuts. The pasta will absorb the flavour and colour of the hydrating liquid. So once you’ve tried this method and become a convert, water will become a very boring way of cooking pasta. But that’s another post.

Ingredients

Uh, some dried pasta.

Your choice what type and how much.

Some cold, water-like liquid, seasoned well.

Procedures

Cover the pasta with the liquid, then wait between one hour and several until it’s the consistency you want. Drop it into boiling water for 60 seconds. Drain and serve.